Here's a thought. Hearing all the talk about Show taking the belt at SS has me thinking. Who was the most underappreciated WWF Heavyweight Champ?

My pick is Yokozuna. The man was amazing for his size. He was quick, could move, and was pure evil. His reign with the Heavyweight belt was the longest heel reign in the post-Hogan WWF. It's sad that his last televised match had him being forklifted out of the arena. A man of his stature and ability needs to be remembered for a long time.

Hmm...This is a tough one, because my first instinct is to say somebody who I thought should have had more title reigns than they did, or was misused as champion, but I think I'll have to go with Rock.

Sure he's had lots of title reigns and he's world famous, but the guy has never been anything but a short-term champion really. I hesitate to say that he was a "transitional" champ, in the sense that his angles usually revolved around him, the belt, and his opponent, but the guy has had a slew of title reigns, but not a whole lot of time with the title.

I don't know, maybe that doesn't completely fit in with the topic, but a few years ago, I would have loved a long, protracted Rock title run.

We're not talking about the time as champ here, we're talking about the people's appreciation for said champion.

I'm going with Chris Jericho, no doubt. Sure, the booking is what made people not care about his run...but who else has beaten Austin and Rock BACK TO BACK and gotten zero credit in return? Nobody believed him as champ, even for the 4 months of his reign.

Questions like this always make me wonder "Underappreciated by who?" By the IWC? By the fans en masse? By the managment? I could give different answers to any of those -- Angle and Jericho were definitely not underappreciated by the 'net, even if the management considered them throwaway champs and they were never especially over as champions.

But anyway: for WWF champs, how about Ric Flair? All he ever got was two brief title runs in '92, even though he deserved better after his spectacular performance in the '92 Rumble. Even his WCW title runs never seemed to go well -- getting stripped by Russo, being simply handed the belt by Nash, etc.

I'd say Ivan Koloff from a mark's point of view. I remember when I was studying the WWWf/WWF/now WWE title history as a young mark and seeing Bruno Sammartino's incredible nearly-8-year title run. The fact that Koloff was the man who ended the legendary run deserves a lot of respect--from a mark's POV. Even if he lost it less than a month later, the fact that he beat the unbeatable foe is impressive.

what I meant when I started the thread was underappreciated in general. When you hear the list of great WWE champs, Yoko almost never gets mentioned. The boy was awesome. Kudos to Darryl for Ivan Koloff.

Yokozuna? N Word Please! The guy wasnt scarey, was a big load of crap in the ring. Who else was going to be a "threat" to any babyface at the time? NOBODY. Thats the only reason he got the belt. ALl I ever watned tosee was somebody run around in the ring and make him chase him for a few minutes, and when he fell over in pain, either from a heart attack, or from his thighs catchign fire from rubbing together too much, pin him and simply walk out!

Most Underrated Champ? Iron Shiek. Stretched and beat Bob Backlund, and was the one who wasnt too proud to go the job to Hogan, leading us into the Wrestling boom in the 80s.

You must not have watched many Yoko matches. The man could move. For being almost 600 pounds toward the end, his agility was great. When he would get knocked down for any reason, he was on his feet again just like that. He wasn't scary? PLEASE! I wouldn't want to go near him if I knew that I'd get a Banzai Drop!

Maybe Kurt couldn't be quite as awesome as a face. But I still bore witness to a hot Indianapolis crowd that chanted “USA!” during Kurt Angle's theme (at the spot where everybody now chants “You suck!”) And I remember the crowd's reaction as William Regal turned heel against Angle, allowing Austin to walk away with WWF Championship gold for the sixth, and final, time.

WWF/E: Superstar Billy Graham: Bridged the Sammartino era into the Backlund era, and was the prototype for many of the cocky heels.

NWA/WCW: Harley Race: Appreciated by long time fans of wrestling, but most fans today either remember him as the King character feuding with Duggan, or as Vader's manager. Hope this doesn't become peoples memories of Flair in the future.

AWA: Rick Martel: Wasn't great, but he was a good wrestler. Unfortunately, Verne didn't allow him to develop any charisma. And, it was better than putting the belt on the heat machine Greg.

Ultimate Warrior: Yes, yes, he's not the world's best wrestler. But he wasn't the worst. He at least had good programs with Savage, and you can't deny the logic of putting the belt on him in the first place, even if it ultimately kinda bombed. All that charisma wasted in madness...it's sad.

Sting: Sting just never got a proper run with the world title, I don't think. A lot of that's due to injury and/or politics, but nonetheless, he's one of the all-time greats.

But I think the most underappreciated world champ was DDP. He had good matches, cut good promos, did whatever was asked of him, and ended up being a footnote and jobber in the WWE. That plain sucks. His career should've ended with a bang, not a whimper, pardon the pun.

Here, here! I'm with DDP too. Honorable mention goes to Chuck Palumbo. I guess I was the only one cheering when he beat Booker T. And on that note I would also have to say Big Poppa Pump. As much shit as the IWC talks about him, he was the one on the best heel champs in WCW. And working the last Nitro in excruciating pain and doing the job for Booker T... He has more class then people give him credit for.

*edit* Shit! I almost forgot Jeff Jarret! He worked his ass off for that sinking ship of a company.

Ultimate Warrior: Yes, yes, he's not the world's best wrestler. But he wasn't the worst. He at least had good programs with Savage, and you can't deny the logic of putting the belt on him in the first place, even if it ultimately kinda bombed. All that charisma wasted in madness...it's sad.

Sting: Sting just never got a proper run with the world title, I don't think. A lot of that's due to injury and/or politics, but nonetheless, he's one of the all-time greats.

But I think the most underappreciated world champ was DDP. He had good matches, cut good promos, did whatever was asked of him, and ended up being a footnote and jobber in the WWE. That plain sucks. His career should've ended with a bang, not a whimper, pardon the pun.

Only problem with Warrior is the great match he had with Savage was after he lost the belt.